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Please help me raise the funds for my Masters!

£400

pledged of £4,000

6

sponsors

0

left

What's
my aim?

I'm
looking to raise approximately £4000 to cover the remainder of my
Masters fees – if I can reach this goal, then this will greatly
reduce the financial worry on me and my family, and improve my
chances of excelling during my period of study. You can help me with
this!

Who
am I?

I'm
35, and a full time working mum and wife. I work in Local Government
dealing with feedback, and have been in the role for cough 9
years cough, juggling life, work and various other
commitments. I've been presented with a fantastic opportunity that I
would be a fool to turn down so I'm turning my attentions to trying
to make the most of it and getting the most help that I can.

What's
the story? Why should you help me?

OK,
so what is this Masters? It's in Dispute Resolution, it's run by the
Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, and is specifically designed
for working professionals and is mainly completed through distance
learning. It can be completed anywhere between 2.5 and 7 years. I'm
hoping for somewhere in the middle. I've already been offered an
unconditional place, which I have accepted.

In a
nutshell, the course is designed to look at and improve the
interactions between big institutions such as local authorities,
banks, Ombudsmen etc, and you - Joe Public. Have you ever complained
to the Council and not had a good experience? That's what I'll be
studying, and I'll be looking to improve practice as a result. This
will benefit those who deal with the local authority I work for, but
ultimately I will be seeking to share my learning wider, with
colleagues in other local authorities, NHS bodies, and similar moving
forwards. We all have a voice with large public bodies, but those
public bodies need to know how to hear that voice and learn from it.
I hope I will be able to affect change in this area on completion of
my Masters.

I
did my undergraduate degree in Psychology and whilst I did OK, and it
was interesting, it was actually more an exercise in working out how
to be an adult, and how to live away from home for the first time. It
was fun, and I got a bit of official paper at the end, but I
certainly didn't do my best. I didn't reach my potential and I regret
that.

Now
is different. Now I've grown up (I think!) and I have a job, a
family, a life. Now is when I get to make serious choices about my
future and this is one of them. How else would I get the opportunity
to study a Masters? I honestly don't think I would without this
chance. I'm not undertaking this Masters lightly. I've given it a
huge amount of thought and decided I simply cannot turn it down. I'm
very excited about this new phase in my life and I'm hoping others
will get on board with that excitement – not a lot of people are
thrilled about complaints, but they are the reason I have a job!

If I
can raise the rest of the funds I need to at least cover the fees
then I will be supremely happy. Anything more is a bonus and will be
carefully planned for, if people are generous to take me over my
target amount.

Where
will your fantastic donations go?

Firstly
I am pleased to say that my employer has already sponsored me for
just over 50% of the fees, so I'm already a chunk up.

If
I receive the remaining £3000 I'm hoping for then this will go
directly on the remainder of the Uni fees.

The
Masters is made up of 8 modules, plus a dissertation. Each module
costs £650, and the dissertation costs £1300. My employer has
sponsored me for around £4000 already.

If
I am lucky enough to receive anything more than the £3000, then I
will purchase items like a new PC/laptop, a decent printer,
stationary etc that will help me with my studies.

There
are possible additional costs, and these are things like flights to
campus, if I need to attend for any reason (approx £200 return),
staying at a hotel whilst there (premier inn for the week module
that is likely based in Edinburgh at the campus would cost in the
region of £400, food whilst I'm there (let's say I'll be
conservative on costs here!) at maybe £80 for the week.

I
will aim to update the campaign once a month wherever possible, with
information about the modules I am completing.

Rewards
you'll get for being fab and
donating

I'm
offering something for everyone who helps me out. It won't be big,
but you'll get something from me plus my undying gratitude. Check out
the rewards on offer!

Updates

OK,
you'll want to know how I'm doing, right? I'll be working full time,
and studying, and managing a family, but I'll do my very best to
update my blog monthly with info about each of the modules I'm
studying, the groups I'll be taking part in, any debates, thoughts,
and information that will give an insight into how things are going.